Shuriji Castle

Our next stop was the Shuriji Castle.  We hadn’t begun our tour of Naha until gone 2.30pm so by now, it was just past 5pm.  Dear Miyaki was getting anxious about the closing time and hurried us along.

Once inside the castle grounds, we were treated to Japan in a nutshell.  The immaculately dressed school group who arrived at the same time were delightful, waving “hello” to us.  In each location of the castle, there was a little rubber stamp station, and this little family were collecting them all, so Father helped his little daughter to add to her collection.  The Museum staff greeted us with little bows and smiles and we hurried through, following Miyaki.

The pathway was an interesting construction.

From the first gathering point, we could see a great view of Naha.  The rooftops mostly feature water tanks, which Miyaki told us could hold three day’s of water.  When the typhoon strikes, the water supply is cut and these tanks provide the family with some back up.  I love the modern building in the centre; the slightly pinkish grey one, which is so Japanese, don’t you agree?

In the courtyard, the school group were having a group photo taken, with their serious teachers in the centre.  They were so charming!

Mind you, three of the girls preferred to have their photo taken with a member of our crew!

The elegantly dressed gentleman museum steward thought a little before agreeing to have his picture taken, but smiled and said “hai!” and stood still for a few seconds.  Love his obi sash!

Photographs inside were very restricted, but in the throne room, it was ok.  The sumptuous black and red lacquer furnishings were so photogenic and yet rather difficult to capture effectively.

But the mother-of-pearl throne was highlighted so beautifully against the black background.

And the King’s crown beautifully lit in a little showcase to one side.

As is often the case in Japan, the small details receive as much attention as the main showcase things.  Here, the beautiful bolt which holds together the whole building is shaped like a lotus flower and is painted gold.  Lovely.

But it was nearing six o’clock and closing time for the castle.  The elegant gentlemen were ready for home and began to shoo us out into the courtyard.

Whilst we’d been inside the sun had come out, the clouds (and the crowds) had parted and look what greeted us.

What a beautiful place!  How lucky we were to be able to see it and to learn a little of the Okinawan history.

Returning to the car park, a good humoured gentleman was posing for his picture with two excited young women.  So cute!

Meeting up with my hero when we returned to the ship, we discovered that he too had been to the castle.  Knowing my penchant for collecting Japanese stamps, he’s picked up the brochure in which the little family had been collecting their stamps around the castle.

He knew that it would be exactly my kind of thing and was sorry, but he hadn’t been able to find the stamps.

A good job I’d been collecting them in my notebook then! 

An afternoon in Okinawa

Well, in Naha, to be precise.

The sea was still a bit choppy as we neared the Japanese shore this morning, but there wasn’t the heavy swell of last night, thank goodness.

The pilot came on board and the small tug sailed alongside, tethered by a small rope.  I’m not sure who was pulling whom?  Shortly before this, the Captain had made an announcement about the need to turn the stabilisers off before entering the port, because this would cause the ship to roll.

Well, roll it did, but I have no excuses for this photograph which came as a bit of a surprise when I uploaded the day’s pictures from camera to computer just now.  Really, we didn’t roll that much!

A small dance troupe were preparing to welcome us to the port of Naha, in Okinawa Prefecture and we made our way to the deck to watch their performance.

The smallest member of the dance group won a place in everyone’s heart, of course.

They put on a spirited performance, smiling and waving to the audience who were clearly appreciative as we were for this colourful entertainment.

And yes, you’ve guessed who stole the show!

Whilst this was going on, the man from the Ministry arrived, carrying a bottle of pink stuff.

He supervised the dilution of the pink stuff in a watering can and watched as a crew member watered the carpet at the end of the gangplank with the solution.  Hygiene precautions.  I’m not sure what we might tread off the ship onto the land, though.  Or perhaps it was the other way around?

Actually, the immigration process was quite a lengthy one, but managed very well we thought.  It was a three stage process in that we had to hand in landing cards in return for an official looking document which we were to keep.  This being Japan, it was a curious mix of the old fashioned, traditional red rubber stamp and the high tech QR code.

Whilst we were doing all that, a smiling gentleman in uniform walked along the line, pointed a digital thermometer at each of our foreheads and registered our temperature.  We noted that at both Hong Kong and Macau immigrations, body temperature was scanned as a precaution against infectious diseases, too.

Having been given the all clear from the temperature controllers, we were called to an immigration officer who scanned our passports, recorded two index finger prints and took a photograph.  Those who commented on the excess of this procedure were gently reminded that foreigners entering other countries have exactly the same process to go through and this was by no means unique.

Finally, we collected our tour assignments, and today, my hero and I were going our separate ways.  As he disappeared to explore the highlights of the city, I sat and waited for my own tour to be called.

When I walked down the gangplank, these two delightful chaps were there, waving and smiling.  Oh, how much I was looking forward to being back in Japan, one of my favourite countries (there is a reason…read it here)

As we drove from the port, our guide Miyaki pointed out the cemetery on the right side of the road, suggesting we look out for picnickers there.  It’s an Okinawan custom to visit family graves during March and many take along picnics and spend a happy afternoon there.  No one there today though so we’ll take her word for it!

The bus stopped at a busy intersection – except it’s Sunday and this particular street is closed to traffic on this one day of the week.  Whilst we waited for the stragglers to get off the bus, we spotted a first

The 2013 cherry blossom season has started!  Though we’d seen the blossom in Taiwan, Okinawa sees the first of the Japanese “sakura”; the beginning of Spring.

The pedestrian shopping street was rather quiet and we laughed as Miyuki encouraged us to walk right there in the middle of the road.  “Come on!” she said.  “Go for it!”

Okinawa is a holiday destination, though, and the goods on sale were generally souvenirs of the place rather than everyday things. All of these brightly coloured items are Okinawan and feature some typical products and emblems of the prefecture.  More about them later, because look what’s in the next store…

It’s a T shirt shop for pets!  Well, yes, you can have a matching one, but several stores along the street featured similar displays and it would appear that the doggy T shirt is the hot souvenir here in Naha.

Of course, we hadn’t come to shop but were heading for the arts and crafts centre, where we would learn about the Okinawan textile technique known as Bingata.  Miyuki explained that the method of decorating fabric is a very old one here and came about because the hot climate made the heavy, embroidered fabric known in the rest of Japan very uncomfortable to wear.  Parts of the technique are similar to other resist textile processes, but there are a couple of features which single Bingata out from the rest.

Here’s the example of the design I chose to paint.  For my textile-y friends, I’ll write more in a separate post and for now, I’ll just say how fascinating it was in so many respects.  Firstly, how detailed the technique.  This is not your slop on a bit of paint kind of work, but a precise and measured process which takes time.  There was also the quiet and so very Japanese approach to helping us achieve a pleasing end result – lots of help available and much positive feedback!   Surprisingly, (unsurprisingly?) not everyone was as keen to complete their masterpiece and the shops we’d walked past were proving too much of a temptation.  Those of us who stayed to complete the project were rewarded with one to one tuition.  Hooray!

My completed bag will need to be soaked once we are home, to remove the glutinous rice resist, and hopefully it will look something like the design above.  I’ll post about the technique in more detail later, but for now, we’d got half an hour to make our way back to the meeting point and yes, to have a quick look in the shops.

 

The products local to Okinawa include hot sauce, packaged in a rather familiar style, I thought.

But it was Kukuru Okinawa which drew my attention – textile design studio?  You bet.

The items on sale in here were also aimed at the tourist, though they were traditional Japanese things such as tengui and handkerchiefs.  Small door panels and wall hangings were there too and a few garments.  I was interested in buying a couple of tengui – maybe to use as gift wrapping, perhaps make something from the fabric.  I hadn’t decided.  But these were a great souvenir of our visit and the cherry blossom motif seemed to be a good place to begin.

I had a few more minutes to browse in one of the tourist shops and was interested to see what people take home from here for their friends and co-workers, because of course, the Japanese gift-giving tradition is very strong.  Most things are packaged in multiples as a result and these foodstuffs were aimed at that market.

The purple sweet potato is a speciality of this area of the country and sure enough, they featured in many of the products (there are 140 yen in a pound by the way, if you want to work out the price) .  Long term blog readers might recall that I bought an Okinawan speciality when we were last in Toyko and sure enough, there they were.

Yes, of course I had to get some!

As I returned to the bus, I noticed these signs.

Oh my.  Of course, an island such as this one must take such things very seriously indeed.  We live in such a benign climate, we forget that in some parts of the world, precautions must be taken.  Typhoons are a way of life here, too.

By the side of the sign, the gang of young men were cleaning the pavement of bubble gum.  What a task they had!

So, waiting underneath the monorail for our group to reassemble, we’ll take a break and I’ll meet you in the next post, to go to the Shurijo Castle.  OK?

Rocking and Rolling

As we sat enjoying a cup of tea before Trivia yesterday afternoon, the Captain announced that there was a strong swell in the ocean and once we left the shelter of Keelung Bay, we might encounter heavy seas.  At 4pm precisely, we set sail and on the dot, the “turbo” switch was turned on and the rocking and rolling began.

It’s going to last 15 hours or so, he says.  Oooo.

Well, that was last night and thankfully we’ve survived!  It was fun at times though, I can tell you.  Though we’ve been in rough seas before, I don’t think they’ve lasted quite so long or been quite so consistent.  At odd hours in the darkness, we’d hear a crash or a bang and though we were perfectly fine, I imagine there are others who will be pleased to reach the safe harbour of Naha later.

It was a fun evening last night, though.  The crew are so kind and were on escort duty about the ship to offer a steadying arm to anyone who needed it.  We were up top until around midnight (just two hardy teams made the “name that tune” quiz).  It seems like the heavy seas and the fact that as we lost an hour in adjusting our watches to the next time zone, made the ship a very quiet place indeed.

Today we’ll arrive in Okinawa around lunchtime and my hero and I are going our separate ways to do our own thing.  If the internet is there later, you’ll be able to read about it.  If not, then it might be a couple of days before it appears.

Two or three days without communications, just like the old days!  How on earth will we manage? 

Saturday Morning

Driving south along the eastern coast of Taiwan this morning was a little like being in Scarborough!  The waves were breaking over the seafront and the outlook was a little bleak to say the least.  Never mind.  We were on our way to the Gold Ecological Park and our guide Peter assured us that it rains for half the year here.  This was nothing unusual.

 

The lanterns were swinging in the breeze however and we rather hoped we’d come adequately equipped for our morning out.

Turning inland and starting the drive up to the former goldmine, high above the coast, it was clear to see that this was an area of heavy rainfall, for the hillside was covered with ferns and mosses.  The river was bright orange, due to the heavy iron oxides coming from the earth.

Mary, this was a road on which the Weston Prayer was required!  Single track the whole way with only one or two passing places, we were fortunate to meet just one other vehicle right by one of them.  The steep hairpin bends and precarious edges wouldn’t have made this a very comfortable drive for me, I must say.

But we were in the hands of a professional and in no time at all we were at the top and getting ourselves buttoned up in macs and kagoules ready for the off.

Aren’t the azaleas lovely?

Peter led the way and set a brisk pace…we followed, pleased to be moving right along, if only to keep warm.  It seemed like we had the place to ourselves, too, which was a contrast to yesterday!

The little snack bar had a cute sign, offering a “Delicious Mineworker’s Lunch Box”, including the Pearl Milk Tea we’ve heard about but been unable to sample.  Oh well…there’s always next time!

As we walked along the path, we occasionally remembered to look back over the valley to the village and catch a glimpse of the houses perched high up there.  We also spotted a golden figure amongst them, which Peter told us we’d see again later.

There were many graves on the hillside too, not only from the mineworkers but also from the prisoners of war who had been in forced labour here. 

Inside the Museum, there were interesting displays of how the mine was operated.

There were sweet exhibits of the people who lived in the village here

and a very touching memorial to the British prisoners of war who died here.  I knew nothing of this, and found out more here

Also in here were items of jewellery and hair pins such as this one.

I very much liked the way they were displayed, though the lighting made photography a challenge.

The main exhibit was the “largest block of gold in the world”, which one could touch but not take!  22.5 kg, I believe.

Coming out of the museum, it was still tipping down with rain, so we buttoned ourselves up again and continued down the hill towards the village.

We were heading for the Cyunangi Temple, and if our spirits needed lifting at all, this was the place.

The colour was amazing and the whole ceiling was covered with these brilliant paintings and three dimensional friezes.

The temple itself was a little more subdued and unlike yesterday, we were the only ones in the place so felt free to wander about.

The little fountain in the centre was colourfully decorated with a dragon and a crane.

There was a little New Year decoration too.  But spotting the wooden pieces as I’d used to communicate with the Deity yesterday, I thought I’d ask another question.  Will it stop raining tomorrow?  I eventually had #59 confirmed and Peter agreed to translate for me once we were back on the bus.

This was a Taoist temple, by the way, and the bronze statue we’d seen from above is Saintly Emperor Guan.  It’s quite a landmark and can be seen from all over the area.

There was just time to take a quick photograph across the valley before returning to the bus.  See what a steep place it is?

OK, said Peter, let me read the fortune paper.  He’d forgotten his specs though, so wearing mine he read and thought.  He read a little more and thought a little more.  Interpreting my slip of paper was clearly not easy.  He asked again what my question had been…will it stop raining tomorrow?  With another look at the paper and a sigh, he gave me the translation.

“No.”

 

Just as well the best weather for visiting waterfalls is in the rain, then!   We made a quick stop at the Golden Falls on the way back to the coast road and were due to stop at the Yin and Yang Bay, so called because the iron oxide-laden water creates a yin/yang sign where the river meets the sea.  But today, the heavy currents and strong waves were dispersing it and no such sign was going to be visible.  Never mind, we’ll go straight on to the fish market.

This was one spectacular place!  A huge variety of fish and shellfish, very few of which we recognised but all of which looked very fresh indeed.

Everything, including these green lipped mussels (which I did recognise) was clearly marked with a price and beautifully displayed.

The colours were incredible.  Even these comparatively plain ?crayfish? have bright yellow legs!

I can’t be the only one to see a koala face on those grey crabs, can I?

Whilst business wasn’t exactly booming, there were customers and Peter bought his lunch – sashimi – whilst there.  We were offered tastings of cooked fish and some delicious dried and very spicy flaked fish too, but needless to say, weren’t in a position to buy anything at all.

But it’s such fun noticing things, especially ordinary things like these bottles of soft drinks which are packaged so differently and in a way which appears to be so characteristic of the place.  We don’t always have to buy, of course.

From the fish market, it was a short drive back to the ship in our luxuriously decorated coach.  The inside was very blue

and the outside very yellow!  We’d had a really great morning and were delighted with our choice of destination.

It was good to come home and change into dry clothes and shoes before lunch, though, that’s for sure.

The next couple of days are going to be patchy as far as internet connection is concerned, because Japan places a restriction on communications within 12 miles of the coastline.  So, if you don’t read anything new here for a day or two, don’t worry…you’ll be able to catch up when we’re back in China!

Friday afternoon

Leaving the temple, we drove along the broad, tree-lined avenues and smaller, more built-up streets of Taipei, passing by the President’s office and eventually pulling up in front of an office block.  On the third floor, it appeared there was a Mongolian Restaurant – “the Gobi Desert” – where lunch awaited us.

Well, lunch for ourselves and several other coach parties, because the huge room was full of visitors from all over the world and the noise and hubbub was overwhelming!  To begin with, I chose to visit the Taiwanese buffet, choosing a selection of hot and cold food on the basis that some looked familiar and other things looked, well, curious.  Our choice wasn’t made easier by the Asian practice of mixing sweet and savoury and yes, that pink thing is indeed a slightly sweet, faintly strawberry flavoured piece of upholstery foam…  (No, of course it isn’t, but to tell the truth, it might as well have been!  Serves me right for being silly)

But in spite of the crowds, there was plenty to eat and the Mongolian buffet was a good way of ensuring everyone got to eat exactly what they wanted, regardless of their mealtime preferences.  But oh, the noise!

 

So, bearing in mind I was eager to get a picture of the road crossing signs, I slipped outside a little early with a couple of friends, to take a few minutes to stand and stare, to watch life go by in Taipei on this Friday lunchtime.  Sure enough, there was a pedestrian crossing nearby, so I could snap the animated sign.  Well, I could indeed snap the “stop” one, but the green man is animated and moves so quickly that this was all I could manage

Wearing his hat, the green man walks quickly along and this little sign has as much detail as the motorcycle sign we spotted earlier.  I find these little things so fascinating and took a short movie which I’ll sort out later.

Across the road was a bustling street, which we’d have loved to have explored, but time was pressing and we needed to be at our next destination before 1 o’clock.

We were going to see the changing of the guard at The Martyrs’ Shrine.

We needed to unbonnet beforehand, too.

No sooner had we arrived and taken our places, than the five guards appeared from the side door and began the ceremony.

They had a slow, five-stage marching pattern which was so controlled and precise, if a little strange to watch. 

Not a wobble, not a waver.  One of our friends commented that they must practise yoga, so controlled were their movements, so perfect their balance.

We were kept at a respectful distance as they neared the Martyrs’ Shrine itself and noticed the path worn on the stone, because one movement involves their sliding their feet along the ground.  How many times do they follow this literally well worn path?  On the hour, every hour!

It took quite a while to go through the somewhat balletic moves to change the guards on the podium, but everything was conducted with the same precision as the march.  Remarkable.

Whilst we stood and watched, two young men in dark suits watched and controlled the small crowd who were watching.

And, most amusingly, as we followed the retiring guard back to the gatehouse, one of them did a little titivating of the new guard.  Adjusted his hat, pulled down his tunic and generally tidied him up, as our mothers did before we set off for school.  Fascinating!

We made our way back to the gate behind the retiring guard, who continued the slow, controlled pace and five step pattern as they went.

What handsome young men; what a fitting tribute to the people who gave their lives for their country.  What a great ceremony to watch!

The last stop of the day was the National Museum.  It’s a special place because it contains the best collection of Chinese objects of historical interest as they were brought here when the Nationalists came here to escape the Communist revolution.  There are significant pieces here and unsurprisingly, everyone wanted to see them.

 

The place was awash with large groups and in spite of Tina’s efforts with a microphone and headsets, we didn’t seem to be able to hear and see at the same time.  Most of the particularly popular items to see – including the Jade Cabbage – had lengthy queues and we rapidly got frustrated with the pushing, shoving, claustrophobic headsets and particularly the huge groups gathered around, and hiding, many of the exhibits. So, discarding headsets, we peeled off and explored on our own, deliberately avoiding the crowds and heading for the quieter areas.

The two highlights for us were the porcelain and the calligraphy and portrait sections. The delicate shapes and subtle light green glazes in the porcelain displays were lovely, but we were both stunned by the artistry and precision of the 15th century Zhu Yunming’s calligraphy. Large scrolls, perfectly preserved with still dark blacks and vibrant reds in styles ranging from almost-printed precision to artfully casual scrawl. Wonderful – and all the more impressive when my hero pointed out that it was all completed around the time that Richard III was alive!  We also admired the stylised, yet clearly true-to-life portraits of Genghs Khan and Kubulai Khan as Emperors, with their podgy faced concubines.

We’d had enough by then, so we pottered around the (equally crowded) shop, and took some photos outside, since none were permitted in the museum. As fast as one group finished, another took their place however and yet again, it was the presence of the group who predominated over the individual.

Such a full day left everyone a little overwhelmed and the journey back to Keelung was a quiet one, accompanied by Tina’s beautiful rendition of her favourite songs and the quiet, slow breathing of a few sleepers!

Would we be back in time for Trivia?!